330 Changing the Narrative Helps Us Heal with Jennifer Lunden

The Well Woman Show

Coming up on the Well Woman Show this month, I Interview Jennifer Lunden. She is the recipient of the 2019 Maine Arts Fellowship for Literary Arts and the 2016 Bread Loaf–Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarship in Nonfiction, Jennifer Lunden writes at the intersection of health and the environment. Her essays have been published in Creative Nonfiction, Orion, River Teeth, DIAGRAM, Longreads, and other journals; selected for several anthologies; and praised as notable in Best American Essays. A former therapist, she was named Maine’s Social Worker of the Year in 2012. She and her husband, the artist Frank Turek, live in a little house in Portland, Maine, where they keep several chickens, two cats, one Great Dane puppy, and some gloriously untamed gardens. Her new book is “American Breakdown: Our Ailing Nation, My Body’s Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life.”

We discuss:

1. Chronic illnesses affecting women like MECFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and long COVID.
2. Gender differences in healthcare and medical training that lead to delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment of illnesses.
3. Illness stigma, the importance of recognizing women's experiences, and empowering personal narratives for societal change and well-being.

Jennifer Lunden’s book is “American Breakdown: Our Ailing Nation, My Body’s Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life.”

She also recommends “Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing,” by Jen Soriano.

The Well Woman Show is thankful for support from Collective Action Strategies - a consulting firm that supports systemic change so that women and families thrive, and by the Well Woman Life Movement Challenge Quiz at wellwomanlife.com/quiz

As always, all the links and information are at wellwomanlife.com/330show